Dehalogenation is known to occur in production of a halogenobenzyl alcohol by reduction of a halogenobenzoic acid ester with hydrogen gas using a transition metal complex as a catalyst, but there are only a few reports on reduction of halogenobenzoic acid esters. Dalton Trans., 2012, 41, 10136 reports reduction of methyl halogenobenzoates, in which dehalogenation is inhibited, using a ruthenium complex having a PNN pincer-type ligand or the like. However, this reduction has such a problem that since the reaction temperature has to be low, further improvement in the catalyst ratio cannot be expected.